


Oil Clot

by moonorchiids



Category: Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon & Comics)
Genre: Beast Beatrice, Beast Wirt, Body Horror, Gen, Greg on the other hand, I Made Myself Cry, Lantern-Bearer Beatrice, Lantern-Bearer Greg, Lantern-Bearer Wirt, Like most characters having stick legs, Sad, Seriously so many scenarios, Wirt feels really bad, Wirt is still a cinnamon roll, adds to the vibe, beast greg, for the first i recommend Missio's cover of Zombie, i feel bad, i wish i varied the endings more but it's always whatever comes to mind, non-canon descriptions, sometimes i'll post songs to go along with them too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22799959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonorchiids/pseuds/moonorchiids
Summary: The Unknown rights itself.(alt title: i just wanted to be a casual Over the Garden Wall fan but i let it consume my soul instead)
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 23





	1. Candlewick

Y

"You can take on the position of-" "No."

The flame was out.

Screaming.

"Greg..." I tried to scream. But all that happened was just the disjointed growl of it's voice. 

And Greg stared at me.

He looked me in my dead, fogged eyes.

The bramble-like claws. 

The branches that curled around that old hat.

The antlers with the same orange leaves.

The thin, black, deer-like legs that tapered to a fine point.

The tree-like tail.

The cruel mockery of his old cloak.

"Yes...?" Greg stated. "I'ngghh...i'mrr...i'm sargh...i'm sarry..i'm sorry." Speaking from my soul stung. My vocal cords were thin from lack of use. The edelwood that grew on me was bleeding my blood and oil.

"Wirt...why are you sorry?"

"I...corldent save, y-yrkkk....you.." I tried so hard not to cry. Greg didn't have a childhood because of me. I choked on my own tears. "I-" I fell to my knees. "You...you carhgbnnnn...you can pughhhtgttt...you can put out the flramme...you can put it out..." I rasped. This was no life to live. Greg deserved escape more than I did... "You can leaaasgfghhve...you can leave..."

Greg sat down. 

"Wirt...no..." Greg was crying. "You need to live..." "No...you neeghd to escarpe..." "Not without you..." "I was...the worghgst bro..brother you...could have had...Greg...I coulggn't help..." "But you tried your best..." Greg sobbed.

"Wirt...do you remember when Dad had me...? Mama said you used to write poetry and tell it to me before I went to bed..." Greg said it with innocence, but it stabbed at his heart. "Yes...Abboutt...frogs..."

"Do you remember when I killed a roach because you were scared of it?" "Yes..." I tried to let out a dry chuckle at the thought, but all I made was a morose, hoarse choking noise.

"Do you remember when I found that dog and didn't realize it was missing until the owner yelled at us for stealing it?" Greg asked again, and I laughed. "He was so picksed...pissed." I said, now smiling through Greg wouldn't have known that from the tangle of uncut ashen brown hair. He would only see my eyes close.

"Remember when I asked you to play your clarinet to cheer mom up, and we did a little concert?" Greg added. I nodded.

"Why..argh you remghgnding me...?" I asked.

"Wirt, I know... I just want our last thoughts together to be sweet..." Greg said. "Once, mama said if someone loves you, they can visit your dreams when they die. And from there, you can speak to them until you die and you're with them forever. Wirt, promise me you'll visit me and mama? Promise you won't go away forever?" Greg said, opening the lantern.

"I promise." I said, clear as I could.

"I'll miss you...i'll tell Mama you love her." Greg sighed.

I lifted the hair from my features, revealing sallow paleness. I smiled, as color returned to my eyes.

"Thaernhk you...thank you."

I closed my eyes as I felt my heart slow. I felt Greg's arms, hugging me tight. Weight left me, and I felt what I had not for years.

I felt it was all going to be okay.

"Goodbye."


	2. Mockingbird.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what if Wirt was the lantern-bearer, and Greg was the beast? yeah yeah this is pretty much the same as the last one but it ends differently

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> notes: all three beast versions of the characters speak differently.  
> beast greg speaks in short sentences and words, beast wirt typically wouldn't speak, but typically pronounces things horribly wrong and has to retry several times, and beast beatrice won't speak. just a lil detail i snuck in there because I sure love my weird useless headcanons

"Your brother's gonna buy you a mockingbird...and if that mockingbird don't sing..." I hummed. The song just kept repeating in my mind. Like always.

The lantern still shone. 

For Greg.

I didn't want to think about what would happen to Greg if the lantern went out.

I knew the trees were made of other children. But I didn't care.

I stared at the lowest branch, and I hacked it off with a sigh. It fell to the ground, bleeding oil. I opened the lantern, and held the branch over it. Oil dropped in, painfully slowly.

That reminded him of the molasses, really. 

I sighed. Anything for Greg. If he can't get out, he at least deserves to live.

I stared at the lantern, and as soon as the oil was all out, I closed it and tossed the branch aside. 

I felt Greg watching me. Like two blazes of fire staring right into me. I always felt Greg watching me. 

His eyes were like spotlights anyways. Maybe they were. I never got that good a look at Greg. It hurt me too much for me to really look for more than a few minutes. It was the grim reminder of my failure. It was the grim reminder that we always had to wander this forest forevermore. 

"Wirt." It said, in a cruel mockery of his voice. I tried not to sob right then and there, as I picked up the axe yet again and swung it into the tree. "Wirt." It repeated. 

I shook my head. "Greg...no...no I...No." I just needed to say that. Maybe he didn't know why I was saying it, but I was saying it. I hunched over, placing my head in my hands and for once, not fearing to cry. "Wirt." It was like that was the only thing that it could say. 

"Greg...please say something other than my name. Please. I just want to hear you say anything else." I choked. I didn't sound normal either. "Help." It cried out, but it hurt me even more. Of all the things it could have said, it chose to say Help. As though it wasn't just keeping a hold on Greg, like it _was Greg._ But it wasn't. I had to remind myself that.

"Wirt. Help." It said. But it wasn't Greg. It just sounded like Greg. It wasn't Greg at all.

"Greg...hold in there. I'll find a way to save you one day. Just hang in there, okay?" I asked it, pleaded it, but all I got in reply was wheezing and what sounded like a few sobs. 

"Wirt. She's gone." 

"What?"

"She's gone."

"Who's gone?"

"She's gone."

"Who?"

"Beatrice."

"I know..."

I almost broke when it said Beatrice. She was dead because she was a tree now. And I cut her down.

"Beatrice is gone."

"I know."

Greg.

Why won't it let you go?

When do we get to go home?

I don't even know how long we've been here, Greg. 

Certainly more than a year...

Why won't it just let go of you?

I don't even need to leave. You just need to live. You need to have a good life. It doesn't matter what happens to me. You need to _live. Why couldn't I have saved you?_

I am so stupid.

I just chose to forsake all goddamn logic just in an attempt to get us out, when in reality, if I thought about it more, we could probably be alive now. We could be with mom. Or we could be dead.

I guess this is better than some cases.

Why was I such an asshole to you when you were still with me instead of that looming reminder of what the Beast did to you?

I should have just tried to get us out. 

God damn it. 

Why. 

Why am I so stupid.

Greg. Im going to save you. 

Just you wait.

And then I'm going to make sure the Beast dies.

Dies for good.

And you're going to leave this forest.

With or without you.

I hummed. I just knew the tune to that old lullaby and nothing else but how to cut a tree down.

But with that knowledge...im sure we can get out of here.

Im sure you can get out of here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look as much as i think wirt is epic im sad now why did i feel the need to do this to greg bhabjsbdajbsfiuabwihfahwfiuaf i feel so bad


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wirt escaped. Greg did not.  
> (lantern-bearer beatrice, she's in human form. greg is the beast. wirt escaped because i was so mean to him the last few chapters.)  
> (also yes i didn't describe Greg in the last one so i'm making up for that now because in the last one he couldn't look because he'd cringe each time, so I never really got a chance to describe him. tried to make this one count fellas)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sgajgbjafbiuhwafnejkhfjkahf kwahfui beatrice is probably gonna be so ooc im s o rry let's just say her being a lantern-bearer caused her to be in a perpetual state of AAAAAA.
> 
> i love writing beast greg though   
> it saddens me but it's fu n??

Dead eyes.

Toothy, sharp grin that looked horribly wrong. Not like an innocent smile. A malevolent, forced grin.

The temperature seemed to drop by 10 degrees around him. 

The same antlers as the old Beast.

The teapot spilled vines and oil like the tea it once held. Perhaps it was some form of oil tea.

Small, childlike handprints on said teapot, all in black and smeared, weathered by time.

Shorter than the old beast, but still just as menacing.

Twig-like tusks protruding from the neck area, from underneath a thick canopy of ashen-gray edelwood branches coiling around and around.

The old Beast's cloak wrapped lazily around that old halloween costume.

A horrid snapping noise and creaking as wooden joints moved around every time it moved.

Roots sewing it's awful grin in place.

Fangs so large it couldn't close it's jaw.

Hair pulled into what looked like a cowl of hair, unkempt and ratted. 

And the whitest, most cold stare i'd ever felt upon me.

This thing was not Greg anymore. It was not the innocent, cute little child anymore. It was the thing that kept hold of it's joints and just spoke like him.

I had cut down so many trees. So, so many souls. Just because...why? Because I was in debt.

Because I needed time to find out how to get that child back.

"Beatrice." It asked in it's wretched voice. "Beatrice." It repeated. "What?" I almost didn't have it in me to speak. I was drained. "Where is he?"

Almost every part of me wanted to crush that fucking lantern until it was just powder. That's all he ever asks. He doesn't understand.

"He's gone. He escaped." I callously said. "Oh."

"Beatrice." _"What."_ "Why are you so sad?"

I went silent.

I wasn't sad.

I was angry.

No, I was engraged.

"You know, Greg...I could set you free too, so you could go with Wirt." I lied through my teeth. I wanted to be rid of this pest. Enough was enough; I was sick of being reminded day and day again.

"Yes. Please." It said. It almost broke me, but I carried on. 

I raised my axe, setting the lantern on front of a tree stump.

"No. Wait."

It was too late. The axe busted the lantern. 

Greg shrieked, and the candle inside shone unprotected. He reached, but I was quicker.

The flame was out.

A horrible, horrible shriek filled my ears.

Guilt cut deep, but pride cut deeper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so fucking rushed oh my god i just went right into it didn't i


	4. If I Were.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a curse, whether you think so or not.
> 
> (both wirt and greg are the lantern-bearers, beast beatrice, just gonna sneak in that wirt is gonna be tortured again so yes)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i?? really hope that?? this is as good as the first two!! because!!  
> i think listening to Grave Digger - Blues Saraceno, Troubled Minds - MARINA, or Waiting For the World to End - Mother Mother helps to add to the vibe!! especially considering it's another wirt pov and he's the only one of the two who really understands just how terrible it is to be the lantern bearer. i should really write while listening to shit like that more often bdhjfbabsfjbaifb  
> i also avoided writing poetry because 1. i cannot write poetry 2. poetry is boring hee hee. im also going back to being incredibly mean to Wirt because for some reason i enjoy torturing my favorite characters. next one will also be pretty special!!
> 
> i was really tempted to add If I Were / The Same but Different - Vashti Bunyan lyrics, but I couldn't really fit it in there i guess? so i just named the chapter after it lmaooo

Tweet tweet. God, it was deafening. Why won't she shut up.

Greg was holding the lantern, I was cutting the tree down. That's how it is. That's how it was. That's how it will be.

It's that or we all fall down.

"Hey Wirt, did you know that hotdogs are not really dogs?" "Uh, nooo...No I did not..." "Well, guess what? It's not true. It's a ROCK FACT!!"

Greg's voice cracked as he said 'rock fact.' This reminded me far too much of the fact that he would never have a childhood as long as he was here. He was growing up in a desolate forest. In purgatory. And it's all my fault.

I choked on a sob. Greg looked at me quizzically. "What's wrong?"

That felt like a stab to the gut. And now i'm crying. Wonderful. "Gr-GREG...N-no...this is my fault, it's all my fau-"

I was cut off by another sharp sob, unable to finish my sentence.

"You're-you're growing up here! With...with the beast!"

I just choked on my words, unable to fully comprehend what I was saying. This was it. I was just breaking. This was it.

I choked on more sobs as a frog began welling in my throat, which then released in tears and welled up again. Greg was still confused. That kept hurting me. God fucking damn it.

"Wirt, it's okay, whatever you're sad about..."

"Im s-sad..." He was owed an explanation. "B-because of what happened."

I feel Beatri- no, the Beast's eyes staring into me, burning. 

"W-we're just going to grow up here and then die of age, won't we...?"

"Wirt! We're not gonna die, we're just gonna keep cutting the trees! We can live happily in the forest!"

Greg still thought it was all a game, huh?

"No...we're never gonna get out of here...and that's our on-our only escape... We're going to die in here..."

"But the lantern keeps us alive, doesn't it? That's what you said, right?"

I went silent. I'd told so many lies to him just to keep him innocent.

"The lan-lantern keeps _you_ alive..." I stuttered. He didn't even understand the danger he was in. He was still just the same innocent child and god damn it hurt.

"Oh." Greg said, seemingly unable to comprehend the idea of us dying alone in a forest.

"Or maybe it bin-binds us to this place..." I muttered, more to myself than to Greg.

"The beast probably doesn't have it in him to kill us anyways! We'd totally fight him too! An-and we're useful to him, right?"

"...Useful... **idiots.** " I muttered.

"We're not idiots!" 

"...Y-you're right, sorry."

My mind scrabbled to poetry almost instantly, but I batted it away. God, it was obsessed! I was exaggerated now! Distorted! Like the character of a horrid author! 

"Wirt, don't be sad! We're doing an important job! We're helping each other live!" Greg said. 

He was old enough to handle the news.

I didn't think before I said.

"Greg..." I choked. "We're not doing an important job at all. We're...they're...the trees...oh my god I can't say it-"

I choked on my words, sobbing through almost every one of them.

I hid my eyes with my hands, even though they were progressively turning to wood and leaves, with shed velvet peeling from them.

My eyes were turning white. So were Greg's... "-They're people! THEY'RE PEOPLE, OH MY GOD THEY'RE CHILDREN THEY'RE OTHER SOULS OH MY GOD!" I screamed at once. 

A weight lifted for a second, only to fall down back onto my shoulders once I saw Greg's expression.

Pure, unbridled horror. "Wirt! How could you say that? They're just t-they're just trees! Trees! Right?! _Right?!_ " 

"No. They're...you're... You almost...you almost became one! Don't y-you remember?"

"No! _NO!_ Wirt, please, this isn't funny, stop saying that!" 

"Greg...you saw me almost become one..."

"That was a dream! It was all a dream!"

"Shit."

"Wirt, that's a bad word!"

How do I explain this to him...?

"We need to get out of here," I said. Coldly.

"But Wirt...Beatrice needs us!" He said through a broken voice.

"No...no...she doesn't. That isn't Beatrice anymore..." I stated.

There was only one way to go free, wasn't there?

"How can you say that?! It's Beatrice!" He cried.

"Greg, she...she isn't Beatrice anymore...there's only one way to save ourselves," I said. "But you have to trust me..."

"O-okay..." Now Greg was crying. I felt bad. 

"We need to blow out the lantern," I said. I sighed. 

"Wha...t? Won't that kill Beatrice?"

"No...that...that'll free Beatrice." I hoped.

"Okay! Let's free Beatrice!" He said. Now just as cheery as ever. Our mood swings had been changed too, huh?

I lifted up the lantern, and I opened it. The voice of the Woodsman echoed in my head. 

_I did not know that was where they came from!_ echoed in circles in my mind. Do this for the Woodsman. Do this for everyone you met along the way. Do this for...um, Sean...Sara? Did you forget his...her? Their name. Damn. It's really been that long.

I honestly felt bad, tricking Greg into what may be our demise...yet, it seems it was our only chance.

I heard Beatrice caw, her swooping down from the tree. But I had already blown it out.

It was all clear, for just a moment.

And then it was all cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh also sorry for being dead!! i had!! way too many ideas at once!! and needed some time!! to pick the good ones out!! i thought i posted this haha im stupid,, also notable that in this, wirt is 18 and greg is 10, two years have passed. there's a large amount of emphasis on that.
> 
> whether or not Wirt's idea actually worked is up to viewer interpretation, but i physically hate the idea of killing off both of them whether Wirt was aware of what he was doing or not, so, yeah im placing that in your hands lmaoo. whether "then it was all cold" means "they fucking died" or "they woke up!!" is up to you!!

**Author's Note:**

> Discontinued. Lost inspiration.


End file.
